Bob Russell

I really meant patrol leader, not den leader. Maybe I was half-asleep when I wrote that.

A and B are fairly common events, unfortunately. Remembering that the troop is boy led, an adult leader observing either incident would discuss the problem quietly with the SPL or den leader, and "suggest" that the problem be solved. We then stand back and observe, making sure that the problem is fixed. Depending upon the severity of the problem, a story such as given by Mike may be told. Mine are not nearly as inspiring. At times the problem is not noticed until later. Our troop has a policy that when we return from an outing, all troop equipment is unpacked and returned to the shelves

Years ago I was asked by a corporate client to create an ethics code for the directors of the corporation. We discussed a lot of items, and we faxed many ideas back and forth. At one step in the process, after considering what the client kept focusing on, I types up the scout law, changed the lead to "A director is" and sent it off. We did joke a bit about it, but it really seemed to match most of what the client, and I think, society, is looking for. Of course, I then went on to produce the proper form of legal document, much longer, and probably less helpful. Regarding the "Cleaver"

When we do our annual planning, it is often not possible to pick specific dates for activities. For example, we attend two of our council's winter lodges on Mt. Hood every winter. To be eligible, we have to participate in the September wood cut for each lodge, and at each wood cut the participating troops participate in a lottery to pick their date. We therefore cannot plan the dates of these activities prior to the woodcut. We prepare the January through March calender by making decisions that in this three-month period we will hold several events, dates to be determined following the woo

OGE, better look out, because I agree whole-heartedly too. When you see a tear in the eye of our president, you can believe that it is sincere, unlike our previous president, who could fake a tear in a heartbeat, if the polls told him to. As has been said well by some comentators, in this difficult time thank God the adults are back in the White House.

Tim, Bob is correct in stating that Cub Scouts cannot go back and earn earlier age-based ranks. Each Cub Scout rank is based upon an age/grade, and must be earned at that time only. As it was explained to me at leader training, the requirements of, for example, the Wolf rank are based upon a boy in the second grade, and therefore an older boy meeting these requirements simply would not be "doing their best." Boy Scout ranks are not age based, and therefore, each scout progresses through the ranks after learning/demonstrating the skills.

From FoxNews: "Firefighters who say they were ordered to ride in last year's gay pride parade, despite their moral and religious objections, are threatening to sue the city unless officials stop forcing municipal employees to march in the parade. Steven Brown, executive director of the state American Civil Liberties Union, sent a letter to Fire Chief James Rattigan in January on behalf of three of the firefighters who participated. "A number of firefighters apparently objected to this assignment, having sincere moral and religious objections to being in such a parade," Brown wrote.

An interesting article on NationalReviewOnline (http://www.nationalreview.com/nr_comment/nr_comment030102.shtml) about the Stumbo family, who are fighting against social worker intrusion into their family. You may recall this is a family whose 2-year old daughter ran naked into her yard and someone reported this to social workers. The family refused to allow the child to be interviewed privately by the social worker, and they have been in court now for several years. According to the article, the Stumbos are represented by attorney Michael Farris, who is also chairman of the Home School Leg

And Merlyn, just like allowing the government to penalize the Boy Scouts of America destroys any meaning of the right of association contained in the first. Oh, where is that ACLU now?

DD, I don't think we disagree here. My post had to do with more permanent displays, not in the context of a regular public forum. In those forums, restrictions on content of speech should be very limited. A display such as I referred to would be a government-sponsored display, such as monuments, classroom displays by teachers, etc. In such a display, different examples of forms of rules, both secular and religious, should be able to be displayed, to show the various ways that different groups of people have established rules/laws to govern expected behavior. It is in such a display that a

Hey Merlyn, welcome back. I enjoy it when you are here, so that I can post and have Dedicated Dad and I maybe somewhat agree on something. Although I have trouble with just the ten commandments being posted, I support their posting when done in a civic context. Recognizing that the ten commandments were an early form of laws governing a people I believe is such a civic context. This can be done by also recognizing other forms of laws, both secular and religious, such as the Magna Carta as an example of secular law, and the ten commandments, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, etc. All of

In an effort to not lose kids to sports, we try to schedule events so that they do not always have to make a choice. We have started to work on the hiking MB and I schedule the hikes for Sundays, since our best hiking seasons, spring and fall, conflict with Saturday sports. The parents have been consulted and we have not had any church/scouting conflict objections. This obviously may not work for many units. For two-day outings such as canoe trips, we have scheduled the trips so that parents and scouts with conflicts can join us after the sporting event. My sons are very sports-focused, and

Sctmom, the issue is controlled by the "Supremacy Clause" of the U.S. Constitution, contained in Article VI: "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." Some may read this to the effect that a ratified treaty will override all other law, which could include the US Supreme C

Welcome scoutruud to these discussions. As you can see, we can disagree, often intensely. But I would say that we all love scouting, and work hard to make it a great program for our youth. A characteristic of Americans is to often vigorously disagree amongst ourselves, but defend to all our right to disagree. We take unkindly of others who tell us what we must believe. A common feeling is "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Although attributed to Voltaire (not actually said by him), who was not an American, I believe that it better sums up

DD, you earlier posted the following: "Homosexuality, by definition, is perversion. You're welcome to write your own dictionary if you want to however I don't think that many would consider it very factual. Homosexuality or same-sex sodomy, is an aberrant sexual practice especially when habitual and preferred to normal coitus. The condition of being perverted is to cause to turn aside or away from what is good, right and true and this "intrinsically" conflicts with the definition of moral. In math, theorems are proven by using definitions, but I'm going to guess you don't put much stock in ma

Sctmom, regarding your comments to reach out to parents - I think that this is one of the most important things we can do to keep kids in scouting. My sons are both in scouting, as is my daughter in GSUSA. Each would have quit at some point if we had let them, because they would rather at times sleep in or play video games. Just as my wife and I expect them to go to school, go to church, do their homework, etc, we expect them to participate in scouting. We don't force with an iron hand, but we don't let them drop out of activities on a whim. One of my ticket items for my Wood Badge ti

OGE, I know that paintball is out, much to our scouts' disappointment. But I have not heard that lazertag is not permitted. I would think the difference could be the contact issues with paintball that aren't there with Lazertag. To get a large enough group to reserve the facility, we invited a nearby troop to join us, and they have some of the most experienced Scouters in the district, and they are on board. But I will check up on this.

NJCubScouter, yes, I am an attorney. You too. Well I guess there goes the Neighborhood. Bob White, you asked about the application statement of obeying policies and rules. I haven't looked at the adult application recently, but I don't doubt it's there. It should be. But my question remains - what is the policy? NJ can't find a clear statement, nor can I. I am still waiting for assistance from all of you who vigorously defend the policy that I can't seem to find. Please help! ScouterPaul, you have correctly pointed out that Dedicated Dad's definition has made most heterosexu

In addition to all of the suggestions above that fit the traditional mode, don't be afraid to venture a bit outside the box. We have a number of Webelos whom we are recruiting this year who will cross over in late March. Just prior to their decision time, we have an overnight Lazertag night scheduled. This was not planned for the Webelos, but the scouts just wanted to try it. My kids' church youth group had done one, so my sons suggested it at a PLC meeting, and we went with it. A little different, but when I recently asked one of our parents, who is also involved at the pack the Webelos

None.

Bob White, you have asked the following question of tjhammer: "2. Do you intend to abide by the rules and policies you agreed to when you signed." The application that I signed a long time ago contained no policy regarding homosexuals that I recall. So to determine the exact rules and policies that we are to follow, I went to the BSA website and searched it for BSA's policy regarding homosexuals. I confess I could not find one. Imagine that, the most important policy in the public eye and it's not clearly set out on the website for all to see. I would think that this important p

I suspect my wife and I celebrated Valentine's Day as many scout families did. Rushing home from work, I gave her yellow roses, her favorite, then we quickly ate dinner before she and our daughter left for Girl Scouts and I flew out the door late for Roundtable. All back by 10pm to exchange cards. Isn't romance something?

"I would like to know how the "many more people" can see the difference. Why can't you explain that? I just don't understand." DD, I believe that any poll of individuals will reveal that a significant percentage of people do not disapprove of committed homosexual couples. I am sure that a huge percentage would disapprove of bestiality and incest. So I am sure that many people can see the difference. Do I have a cite to such a poll - no. And I am not going to look for one. I'll just go with common sense on this one. "If you're an attorney, surely you have the intellectual capacity to a

DD, you have stated the following propositions: "What about committed incestual or bestial relationships, why can't they be just as equal?" "Why is incest or bestiality anymore harmful?" "The sad thing is Bob, and I hope you can appreciate that I don not support incest and bestiality in any way, shape or form, is that it can be morally justified in each and every way "homosexuality" can be justified. There is no moral difference." You cannot see the moral difference between a consenting committed relationship between two adults and bestiality and incest, but I believe that ma

Rooster, sorry to hear that you don't respect me as a scouter. I have read all of your posts, accept your devotion to scouting, and have no reason to attack your capabilities as a scouter. I also respect your right to hold views different than my own. If you want to attack my devotion to scouting, I suggest you first pay a visit to see our troop in action. I believe that we have a fine program based upon the scout ideals. As to your comments regarding me being sued some day, I will not lose sleep over this issue. I've said before in some post that I am a lawyer, for over 20 years. I te